What if I told you there was something that would help ease the problem of our overcrowded prisons? What if I said this same solution would help alleviate the homeless situation? Prevent suicides? Cut back on the number of domestic violence calls? Drunk driving deaths? And improve employee attendance records?

What if I told you that people know about this solution but don’t really talk about it or do much about it because politically it doesn’t get folks elected and personally it’s difficult to talk about? You would think that was crazy right? 

And it is crazy that it’s true. Because if we spent more of our resources on mental health help we could save money on our jails, on our courts, on our police force and more. By improving mental health fewer employees would take as many sick days, and more could deal with their addiction issues taking impaired drivers off the streets. But improving mental health doesn’t look good on a campaign poster. It doesn’t generate the emotional response that motivates people to go to the polls and vote. Working to improve mental health isn’t a great campaign issue so the politicians rarely talk about it.

But maybe, just maybe, that’s starting to change.

Recently, there was a hearing in Lincoln where the state’s Health and Human Services committee heard from county prosecutors and public defenders, law enforcement officials, mental health experts, and family members of mentally ill people. They heard about how Nebraska is way behind on dealing with this issue. An organization called Mental Health America ranked Nebraska 44th when it comes to how we deal with the mentally ill. The committee heard testimony that we need to see how other states handle the problem and how they pay for it.

I saw a presentation from Omaha Police Lt. Steve Fornoff as of recent. He is the head of the department’s drug enforcement team, and spoke of the Fentanyl crisis we are experiencing here in Omaha. And along with the pictures and statistics on the dangers of the drug, he spoke about improving our mental health facilities as a way to help people so they wouldn’t feel the need to self-medicate in the first place.

But you don’t hear enough politicians talking about that as a solution to the Fentanyl problem. Too many act like tough guys that are going to shoot people coming across the border. And while some of those individuals coming across the border do carry drugs, shooting a handful of illegal immigrants won’t solve the problem. Stopping the demand for the drug will help solve the problem.

The other day I had lunch with a gentleman who has a son that is schizophrenic. He was frustrated at the lack of options he had to help his son get well. He told me of a new concept that some cities are trying: Urgent Care for mental health. There are urgent care facilities all over town where someone can go if they have a physical ailment, why not have places people could go if they are dealing with an urgent mental health crisis?

These mental health urgent care facilities could be there for people that are dealing with depression, that need to control some anger issues, are feeling suicidal, or are acting irrationally. Mental health urgent care would be place people can visit before they feel they are going to hurt themselves or others. Before they wind up in the County jail.

Like I mentioned there may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon. State Senators are starting to talk about it. Senator John Fredrickson and Senator Mike McDonnell have both presented ideas to move the discussion forward. In Douglas County, Commissioners have been looking into what they can do for a while now.

As Omaha’s homeless and drug problems increase, every step in the direction of providing people with the mental health help they need should be supported. 

Earlier in this article I used the word crazy. I used it to get an emotional response from the reader. Because emotional responses motivate people to action. Because emotional responses get people elected. That’s why you get political ads where they talk about shooting people instead of solving problems intelligently.

Let’s bring sanity back to our elections. Let’s pick our leaders based on rational solutions to problems and not emotional rhetoric. Improving mental health options won’t solve all our problems but it will make things better for a lot of families. And that’s something we all should want — politics be damned.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.